Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk previews Biden visit

4/20/14 9:00 AM EDT

Ahead of Vice President Joe Biden’s trip this week to Kiev, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says his government is asking the Obama administration for economic and military support to help it weather its conflict with Russia.

“We need a strong and solid state. We need financial and economic support. We need to overhaul the Ukrainian military. We need to modernize our security and military forces. We need the real support,” Yatsenyuk said in an interview airing Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“How can you stop the nuclear-powered state, which is Russian Federation, that spent billions of dollars to modernize their military instead of Ukraine?” he asked. “We need to be in very good shape in order to stop Russia. And for this shape, we need to have and to get the real support from our Western partners.”

Pressed on whether Ukraine needs weapons from the West, Yatsenyuk was vague. “We need financial, economic support. We need to modernize Ukrainian military and to overhaul all structures of Ukrainian defense system,” he said.